Archived Back Room duties

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I have a few questions, so please bear with me.

At my store, in the back room we have:
1 opener that comes in at 7:30 and stays until around 2:30
3 or 4 mids
and 1 closer that comes in around 2:30 and stays until 10:30

For closing shifts, what are the typical duties? I've been closing a couple nights a week, and it seems like a lot even with the mids to help out along the way. Setting the line, backstocking, ELRs, guest requests, flexible fulfillments, pulling CAFs/price change all seems like a lot to do. Not to mention maintaining the brand/making bales to consider in the middle of all of it. Any tips on how to handle the workload?

Same question for opening shifts. I have opened a couple of times, but I never got any feedback from TLs how I did. Going through the coolers to pull possibly expired product is about the only thing I can think of that needs to be done, followed by pulling research batches. I know sweeps need to be pulled at some point during the week, but I know very little about what that entails. Anything else I should know?
 
errr, just found that helpful thread with all the duties. I'd still like some input from fellow back room team members. My TL seems to think getting all of these things done before overnight comes in is a piece of cake.
 
Backroom closing duties: Do everything in less time.
How to handle workload: Accept fate
Opening duties: Do everything in less time
How to handle workload: Accept fate
 
^ More or less, that seems to be the theme. I close a couple nights a week, usually am on my own to finish backstocking, complete ELRs, finish setting the line, guest requests, etc.. all in the span of 2.5 hours. Most of the time something is sacrificed. Usually it's ELRs.
 
My backroom nights are 1:30 -8. They consist of Pulling autofills alone, pushing autofills alone, trash, Backstocking, setting line(certain nights), Unloading cooler truck( certain afternoons), backing up electronics, guest pulls+carry outs, Zoning receiving( told TL that i am never touching Other side to zone cause the other backroom person makes it look like pig pen), Doing a sweep before break,lunch,and leaving, finding errors on receiving side, and then once in a blue moon ELR's.
 
We'll I'm not as familiar with setting up and working before an overnight crew I used to be the early morning Backroom when we came in at 4 now it's 6 but as far a some tips...

Take advantage when you have multiple people there you may have to step on some toes and take charge make sure everyone's working split them up into different tasks in the Backroom to backstock so their not all together just talking

Also try having one of the last mids make a bale right before they level an that'll free up some time for your other closing duties

Setting up for a truck shouldn't really take to long I'm not a very big volume store though so could be different for you but make it the last thing you do if possible

ELRs you can have everyone do 1 each shift if you have 5 TMs there on average that could be about 150 ELRS a month way over plenty key is everyone just needs to do their part they shouldn't take long either so that's very possible if everyone just takes 10 to 15 mins at the end of their shift

Do your best to maintain brand as you backstock and keep backstocking whenever you can between pulls and just get the pulls done as fast as you can if you have someone there with you while pulls are going on you can have the faster one pull while someone else is always backstocking
 
You can only do so much, so just accept that you may not get everything done. Hopefully your TL/ETL doesn't give you much hassle if you don't complete everything because usually backroom has more work than manpower. If you have multiple backrooms (i.e. multilevel/unique) then having 1 closer can be rough, especially if you have 7pm CAFS. If your backroom is all together, 1 closer is enough.
 
You can only do so much, so just accept that you may not get everything done. Hopefully your TL/ETL doesn't give you much hassle if you don't complete everything because usually backroom has more work than manpower.

This is true of every workcenter in the store.
 
I always get hassled over backstock left from the previous night or because of some ghost or baffle that flow or the early morning backroom made because they were too lazy to pay attention when backstocking. And I always get told "work faster". When I get told that, I just laugh inside my head. I'm like saying in my head "okay, so work faster when I'm pulling 14 pallets of price change and staying 2 hours past my scheduled time to leave". Okay, whatever. When people give me attitude about unfinished stuff like that or work left behind, I just want to be like "let's put you in that situation by yourself and see how you do". I just think TLs and ETLs are a joke when it comes to recognition and bullying. They bully and harass 24/7 over stuff they don't like yet rarely ever praise you for doing a good job or busting your butt. Yeah, I know it's Target and it's something I have accepted or tried to accept. It would be nice to come into the backroom after pulling 10 pallets or more of price change the previous night and have an ETL or TL say "hey, really appreciate you staying late last night o pull all of that price change".
 
Greats tips, everyone. Closing lately has been a bit hectic (mainly due to call-outs, and attempting to train new TMs while still keeping up a moderate pace). We're also down to one dayside backroom TL, so more often than not backroom TMs are left to our own devices. My thinking is that someone must have their eyes on us to see who is ready to step up and take a TL position, but perhaps that is just me being naive.

And yes, my store has a 2 level back room. Thankfully 5pm CAFs are our last (followed by 6pm price change). I always let out a deep sigh when I see my last mid is only scheduled until 8pm rather than 9pm. 2.5 hours running the back room completely solo is pretty anxiety-provoking, but I'm starting to realize that it's the norm at my store. Sometimes things are looking good when my last mid leaves, other times I'm looking over my shoulder for the overnight TL waiting for him to hassle me about the amount of backstock left over.
 
Two backroom team members at 7pm or later? Never happens at my store. My store it's usually 1 opener and 1 closer. Opener leaves at 2pm or 230pm. I do the CAF pulls at 2pm through 5pm by myself on weekdays and get to do the always huge 5pm CAF pulls on the weekends alone. Lately, I get scheduled to leave at 7pm or 8pm. Mytime and Obamacare suck.

My question to any ETLs, TLs, and the STL that complain about left over backstock is "when". When will I have time to do backstock when I'm pulling CAF pulls, research batches, EXFs, POGs, and stupid FF? On the weekends, I can be doing CAF pulls basically nonstop from the time I get there at 1230pm until 6pm. It's not that I don't want to back stock stuff. There just isn't any time for it.
If you want back stock done, then you need to hire or schedule more people. If you can't do that, then start twisting some arms of the early morning backroom team members and get them to stay a little late and help pull the 12pm and 1pm CAF pulls. Also, get those same early morning backroom team members to help pull research batches, EXFs, and POGs. If there are 3 or 4 of them still in the back at 12pm or later, it's not going to kill one of them to help backroom day out.
 
When I used to close BR at night, I usually didn't have much BS or pulls left by the time the price change pulls were complete, so I usually used that time to do random projects and housekeeping.
Aisle audits-should be done anyways on a regular basis and kills a bunch of time.
Pallet kills/condenses-walk the bulk side and note any pallets that can be taken down or condensed down to another pallet. Usually I'd go check the floor to see if any PIPO paper towels/tp, water, Capri Sun and cat litter can push out to the floor and make some space. Also gives you plenty of practice with the stacker.
Drop aisle profiles- If there's stuff on the top shelves in the light duty aisles and there's space down lower, than move the product down.
Go run through the bulk side and LOCU empty locations. You'd be surprised how many errors this can clear out.
If you're an O/N unload store you can set the line
Worse comes to worse, go grab a broom....
 
Closing Backroom duties at my store include leaving the Backroom a mess for the morning Flow team.
 
If a flow team member or early morning backroom team member ever wants to know why so much backstock is left, let's swap shifts for a week and then you can experience the adventure of a lifetime. Let's see how much backstock you get done when you're pulling price change for 2 to 4 hours and staying 2 hours past your scheduled time to leave the store. Thank you. I have no sympathy for those types of complaints.
 
I don;t know about that. The Flow team in my store moves faster than our Backroom members. You complain about pulling price change, yet flow pulls the Autofills which are much larger. That's in addition to backstocking the truck which we still get done. It would probably work out better if Flow closed the Backroom.

Of course, scheduling and time goals that can't be met are mostly to blame, but let's act like Flow couldn't get it done when they are already doing more.
 
I'm by myself. Flow and early morning backroom team members work in large groups. It's easy to brag and cast blame when you're in a group than it is when you're by yourself. Thank you.
 
On non-truck days the whole flow isn't there. It's usually 2 people and maybe an extra. They pull all the autofills, push them and backstock it all within 5 hours. Backroom should have overlap, which is usually 3-4 people. 2 in the morning. one around 11-12 and another at 3 or so. It's the same amount of people, just spread out over a longer shift. I highly doubt that you're the only one in the backroom for the entire time the store is open. If your has a 4am or 6am unload, you probably have the flow team back there with you.

No one really expects all the work to be done, but if 2-3 flow members can do it in 5 hours, there should be some progress in the backroom in the 15+ hours that the store is open.
 
If a flow team member or early morning backroom team member ever wants to know why so much backstock is left, let's swap shifts for a week and then you can experience the adventure of a lifetime. Let's see how much backstock you get done when you're pulling price change for 2 to 4 hours and staying 2 hours past your scheduled time to leave the store. Thank you. I have no sympathy for those types of complaints.

That is exactly what happened one weekend when one of our most vocal flow members who was always fussing about how things looked when they came in. She ended up having to come in to close one night because we were short and she needed hours. Next time I saw her, she just looked at me and said "I apologize for the complaining. I'm amazed that you guys can get anything done given the amount of stuff the expect you to do"
 
On non-truck days the whole flow isn't there. It's usually 2 people and maybe an extra. They pull all the autofills, push them and backstock it all within 5 hours. Backroom should have overlap, which is usually 3-4 people. 2 in the morning. one around 11-12 and another at 3 or so. It's the same amount of people, just spread out over a longer shift. I highly doubt that you're the only one in the backroom for the entire time the store is open. If your has a 4am or 6am unload, you probably have the flow team back there with you.

No one really expects all the work to be done, but if 2-3 flow members can do it in 5 hours, there should be some progress in the backroom in the 15+ hours that the store is open.

A lot of it depends on how your backroom team's hours and duties are split. Our overnight backroom has 6-7 people every night while our dayside usually has 4. That is 6-7 people covering a single block of 8-10 hours and then 4 people covering a block of 14 hours each day. The majority of our overnight backroom team is staffed with long time veterans (TL been with company for 10 years, Flow TL and ETL have both been with company for 15 years, half the TMs have been there 4+ years) while the turnover on the dayside has gotten so bad that we have completely replaced the team over the past year.

We have also had some huge changes (additions) to our workload that I can't describe without giving away what store I'm at. Our key carrying Overnight TL used to speak the same as you until he had to come close one night when our ETLs were having some team building event. After seeing the amount of crap that we get stuck with, he apologized and laid out what we can leave behind that would be easiest for his team to finish.
 
My dayside backroom team would leave tons of backstock on days they weren't being supervised. And the process to term unproductive TMs was ridiculously challenging at my store, making productive TMs angry that bad performance wasn't being corrected. But the backroom team also had several challenges, 8 backroom locations spread across 2 levels, being tasked to work HL salesfloor or backup for cashier are just two of the many barriers.

Advice for ETLs/LODs - lead the store from the backroom. Logistics weighs heavily on operation scores - keep Log/Replen green and you'll stay green.

Hopefully ETLs/TLs recognize the hard work of their backroom/flow TMs. And if they don't think they're working hard, step in their shoes for a week and see how well you do. Oh, and be grateful for how hard they work for the little $ they earn per hour. I always gave out gift certificates to restaurants, movies, and/or gave them the choice of what days they wanted to work that week. Whatever you can do to recognize the work of backroom TMs.
 
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